Temperature rising but roof will stay open

Jake Niall

SHOULD Melbourne's temperature reach its predicted 39 degrees today, the players who are toiling on court have very little chance of having the roof closed, or of walking off the court for a siesta in the shade.

The Australian Open's tournament referee has the discretion to put into practice its unique ''extreme heat policy'' and close the roof of the two main courts, allowing play to continue indoors.

Simultaneously the policy demands that players on open-air courts - such as Margaret Court Arena - are removed from the microwave as play is suspended.

But the Australian Open doesn't anticipate the extreme heat policy will be put into action, so it seems highly likely the roof of Rod Laver Arena will be open when Bernard Tomic seeks to salvage some local interest from the wreckage on Rod Laver Arena; Tomic, indeed, is likely to be on court when the temperature peaks late, about 6pm.

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If 39 degrees sounds like reasonable grounds for closing the roof, it is not the measure that counts. Extreme heat is determined, not by the pure temperature, but by what is known as ''the wet bulb'' - a combination of heat, humidity, wind and solar radiation - ie, if it's cloudy, the player has less heat on their back.

Tournament referee Wayne McKewen is the man who decides, in conjunction with his medical team and weather expert, what steps must be taken to protect the wellbeing of players. And McKewen reckons the roof is set to stay open, because while 39 degrees sounds ugly, the conditions won't be terrible for the players. Humidity is expected to be low.

''What they're predicting tomorrow, it's very low humidity, it's a dry heat … that makes a very big difference to the players,'' he said.

McKewen said he had ''a pre-determined threshold'' for the extreme heat policy to take effect, which, like Colonel Sanders' recipe, was kept in-house. ''I need to have the flexibility, taking professional advice both from our weather expert and our on-site medical team.''

The tournament has ways to cope with baking days. At a wet bulb of 26, ice vests are sent to all courts. At 30.1 - wet bulb again - women get a 10-minute break before the third set. Then, at this unspecified but obviously very nasty number, the extreme heat policy comes to pass, just as players are passing out.

The policy was introduced, McKewen said, partly in response to the notoriously hot final between Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati, when the latter prevailed largely because she was able to stand up in the hot climes better than her European opponent.

As tournament chief medical officer Tim Wood noted, there has never been a case of a player suffering heat stroke at the Australian Open.

''The fact that we've played here at the Australian Open for many years without any case of serious heat illness and the worst thing is a thing called heat stroke and, as far as I'm aware, that's never been documented in professional tennis.

''Of course, players will get heat-affected, but that's very different from the medical condition known as heat stroke.

''But we've got a very low humidity forecast and therefore with the air being dry the ability for players to evaporate their sweat, which is the thing that cools us.

''If we were 39 and high humidity, we'd be a lot more scared.

''The forecast measurements at this stage are comfortable.''

Of course, there's the matter of fairness - a player who wins Survivor on centre court at 40 degrees and then has to play someone who'd had 20 degrees is surely disadvantaged, as surely as if they cop Federer. ''That's the luck of the draw, really,'' said Wood.

In as much as Melbourne's weather can be controlled, or predicted, the officials say it will be hot, but not so hot that the players can be air-conditioned on Thursday.